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Rotary News

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Rotary News

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Submitted By Rachel Woods
Rotary News
The meeting was brought to order on a blistery Wednesday by President Jordan Weber’s ring of the bell. He led the group in prayer, and then Rotarian Margaret Doom introduced her guest, her husband Noah Bensen. Song leader Geritt Juffer led the group in a dreadful rendition of “Let Me Call You Sweetheart," which was not sweet at all, in honor of the upcoming Valentines Day holiday. There was no membership minute today. Amanda Beschen drew the lucky ticket for her chance at the Queen of Hearts, but drew the Queen of Diamonds Secretary Treasurer Craig Krsnak reported that the Queen of Hearts pot has grown to $192. The attendance race flipped since last week and many makeups came in. The Cotton team now has four misses, and the Bill Frei team has nine. Prog ram chair Becky Brunsing introduced her guest, Ericka Kotab, owner of new business, “Flourish & Fettle." She outlined the four components of the business: Mindfulness, Health Coaching, Yoga, and Doula services. She explained that mindfulness is paying attention to what is happening right now, on purpose, without judgment. She explained that the idea of mindfulness is to force us to be in the present, not in the past or future. Focusing on your breath is a good way to practice this. Some of the benefits include better sleep; reduced stress, anxiety, and addiction; increased resiliency to stress; improved focus, attention, mood, and creativity; decreased blood pressure and pain; and improvement of cardiovascular health. She then led us in a 2-minute mindfulness exercise, and everyone emerged in a relaxed state. The second part of her business is yoga. She developed a love for yoga years ago when there was an instructor at the gym in Wagner, but she has since moved away. She told us that the practice of yoga is a healing practice that originated over 5,000 years ago. It is all about connection, and has a lot of similar benefits as mindfulness, with the addition of increased flexibility, strength, and concentration. It also helps improve your immune system and your posture. She currently teaches her class in the basement of the Wagner Community Memorial Hospital one day a week. She led us in “chair yoga” for a few minutes to give us an example of what yoga is. The third component of the business is health coaching. She noted that because it’s been proven that it takes 3-4 months to change a habit, that is the usual length of time she will spend coaching individual clients. She is also interested in starting hometown health coaching, which is aimed more at the community as a whole. A few examples of what she hopes to do are hosting community challenges, teaching people about healthy foods that they may not know much about, and even dreams of having a commercial kitchen where she could offer healthy lunches. The last part of Flourish & Fettle is doula services. A doula is a birth support person who is present at the birth to provide emotional, NON-medical support; or after the birth in helping ease the stress on the mother by doing things like laundry or light child care. She cited a study that found that South Dakota has the 2nd highest infant mortality rate in the nation, and stated that doula services can greatly reduce that statistic. She was certified in September. She ended the program by stating "my goal is to support a healthy community and improve the quality of life of Wagner and the surrounding region with a focus on prevention and resiliency building." The group ended the meeting in our usual fashion: reciting the Four Way Test.